Film: Friday Night Lights

But is it any good? Interesting, well acted character film meets sports drama

Without wishing to spoil the ending, Friday Night Lights (based on a true story) seems an odd choice of tale to film. Why pay for the rights to a true story when you could make up your own? There’s nothing in the plot, of a small town in Texas intensely focused on the success of the high school football team as it aims to win the State Finals, that really stands out, but the film succeeds (on the whole) as a character study.

The film’s greatest strength lies in showing how much the team means to the community and to the players. There’s a lot at stake here, an inhuman amount of pressure to put on young men’s shoulders – as one says to another, “Do you feel seventeen?” The always excellent Billy Bob Thornton turns in a slightly subdued performance, but the young footballers are terrific.

There is the usual problem of making a film about a whole season – early suspense, then the matches leading up to the final are glossed over, even though you suspect the team should have more problems progressing than it shows. And characters are neglected – Jay Hernandez as Ivy League-bound Brian Chavez is supposed to be a member of the core group of players, but I suspect that most of his material ended up on the cutting room floor. However, the three main players do get generally satisfying character arcs – Don Billingsley’s relationship with his father, a former State-winning player, is particularly good.

The other fault with the film is the hyperactive camerawork. In the steadicam world, it is easy to neglect the simple art of keeping the camera still, and in this case it finds rest only when studying the high arc of a football (the match scenes are pretty well shot). I appreciate the intent to make an almost documentary-style film, but it undercuts some of the dramatic moments. Still, this is an enjoyable outing that makes some efforts to avoid the predictable.